The band at the end of the show was kind of a waste. Most people were gone by that point. I heard some complaints from people folding up their games that the band was deafening. I don't think a band would be a good idea for the after party (I saw that idea pop up in another thread somewhere). It was a good time to chat with various folks, and a band would just make that hard to do.

What might have been better is a small, quieter band in the vendor area in a corner somewhere. Maybe some fiddlers or something. But either way, a band might not even be necessary or something folks would want since there is so much noise anyway (I saw someone in another thread measured 105db in the free play area, which is about the same loudness as a lawnmower).

Some signage for the sessions other than the show program. I think a lot of people didn't realize there were sessions going on. The only session that was completely packed was Roger Sharpe's session.

Announcements were difficult to hear because of the noise in the free play and vendor areas. The speakers either needed to be louder, or things maybe should have been repeated 2-3 times to allow people to find an area to clearly hear the announcement.

It might be a good idea for staff shirts to be in a different color or have a different design than the shirts being offered for sale. I almost walked up to a few attendees wearing the grey shirts thinking they were staff from a distance.

There were several times during Saturday where there were no staff members in the free play area. I typically had to wander out into the hall or further into the building to find someone with a staff shirt to address a free play issue.

Tying into that, there were a handful of "not for sale" games that had no contact number to call/text for problems. Could there be a designated staff number to call or text for problems if the owner does not wish to supply a contact number?

When a buyer for my game removed it early (I did try to convince him to leave it, but he insisted on removing it), nobody stopped to check if the early removal fee was paid. I ended up going to the registration desk later on my own to take care of it. It didn't seem like it was being actively enforced. I would think a pin *leaving* the free play area in the middle of the afternoon would be noticeable.

But, most of these are just minor adjustments. Overall, it was a fun show to attend

I was all pinballed out after 2 show days, and Thursday setup. 3 days might be too much. However, shifting the show days to sat/sun might boost attendance. Like mentioned earlier, try sending out a survey for this and possible show dates to get some additional opinions. A market survey might also be worthwhile, if it can be done cheaply enough.

The show hours were perfect, IMHO. Although, I only stayed a couple hours for the after party. I was exhausted after being up since the crack of dawn.

How about massage chairs like the ones malls sometimes have? A big complaint everyone had was aching feet and aching backs.

Were there on-site washers/driers in the hotel? Maybe write names on the shirt tags, then toss them in for a wash at a certain time of day.

Honestly, I'm not sure additional entertainment is necessary. I was completely satisfied meeting people, chatting, grabbing a bite to eat, and playing pinball. That was plenty of entertainment for me.

The problem with any sort of music/band/DJ is that they are always way too loud and try to make themselves the main focus of an event, when they should be relegated to the background.

Raffles tend to be hit or miss.

99% of the time, I never win anything, so I tend not to bother. It's kind of like putting money into a claw game machine. But I did put a few bucks in this time since I saw the bins weren't stuffed with tickets. However, it seemed like the same 4 people won almost everything since they bought a couple arm lengths of tickets, so I probably won't bother next year if there's a raffle. *shrugs* While it might sound fair to limit the number of tickets someone can put in a bin or the number prizes someone can get, it's also not fair as a fund raiser to turn someone away if they are willing to put money in. I don't really see a good way to achieve balance.

Either way, there was some nice stuff available, which is why I broke my usual rule of not bothering with a raffle and bought a few tickets.

Thanks for letting other people have a chance

It seems like some people are just prize magnets

Can't believe you pulled your own name the one time, though--that was hilarious

It was posted on a sign next to the doors of the free play area which had a giant wall of text on it, so I'm not sure how many people actually read it.

2015-07-16_16_31_37-Pintastic_New_England_2015_-_Video_Tour_-_YouTube.png

The problem then is that schools and colleges are in session.

I've been chewing on this idea for a couple days, and I think I agree--I did like having Sunday to take my time recovering from the show and making the drive back. Just to avoid taking Monday off from work, I probably would leave early on Sunday, as I'm sure a number of folks would too. As much as I would like to see a full weekend event, I'm guessing the free play floor would be half empty by noon.

Now that you mention it, every time I went outside, it didn't look like anyone was ever actually in that thing. It was an interesting addition, but I'm not sure how much it actually got used. I did see plenty of kids crawling all over the rides and whatnot on Saturday, though.

Personally, I'm not sure I want to see a pinball show taken over by video games. Sure, there's a few vids that are near and dear to me, but I'd rather not see floor space lost and taken away from pins. Or, if collectors have both vids and pins and they can only have room to bring one or the other, I would rather see a pin.

I ended up staying and leaving Sunday simply because I didn't want to have to drive back late at night, especially after being on my feet all day. However, I'm sure some folks would be deterred by the cost of the hotel, especially with lacking amenities. I might rethink staying for 3 nights next year and instead maybe skip Thursday--it wasn't cheap. But, this was basically my big vacation for the year, so I dunno.

I still think that holding it on Aug 25-28th would clash too much with going-back-to-school activities. Way back when I was in school, the weekend before school opened was always basically a "shop till you drop" weekend. I would not have had time (or money) for doing much else.

I agree with David...Thursday should stay as a set-up day. But, I understand that no money is actually coming in on that day either, so it's kind of a waste from a show revenue perspective.

Opening time at 3pm for the public seems kind of late. It sounds good for VIPs and setup, not so good for public attendance. Maybe a slightly earlier public opening time?

Thumbs up for Saturday

Even though Sunday is early closing, I would still probably like to leave right after lunch to leave enough time to drive back and unpack. Would you still hit folks with an early removal fee who want to take their games out early on Sunday? Or would Sunday be a no-fee day?

On an unrelated note, I had another idea pop into my head. When setting up the free play room, I think it might be better to put most of the A-list games further inside of the room, rather than all clustered in the first row near the entrance. At several points during the weekend, it was a little difficult to get past or through that first row, since a lot of people seemed to congregate in that area. There might be better flow into and out of the room if the more popular games were further inside.

York is Friday/Saturday. Kalamazoo and Cleveland are Thursday-Saturday.

lol, see? Fun for all ages.

I misread that as "drunk tank". Either would work, I suppose.

Getting back an earlier suggestion about posting signage for the show schedule, here's some signs at replayFX as an example:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/pinballstar-americas-most-haunted-charity-raffle-2-now-open#post-2590128

Yikes

Well, if you have spare TVs or LCD monitors, you could hook up a computer running PowerPoint or LibreOffice Impress and end up with digital signage...

I wasn't impressed.

I've stayed at much nicer $65/night hotels than this one. Sure, the lobby is impressive, but the rooms weren't great.

No fridge, no microwave, and the TV was a small CRT from the 90s. The mini living room space was nice, but useless for me since I wasn't entertaining in the room.

The sheets appeared to be clean. No bedbugs or mold. However, there were some stains on the walls, the patio was in desperate need of paint, and the windows were filthy.

I thought I saw a critter skittering around on the floor, but I only caught it in my peripheral vision. A couple of other folks said similar things.

The lock for sliding glass door in my room was busted, and was only being secured by a thin metal rod that could be dislodged by knocking on the glass.

The shower didn't drain very well.

Normally, I don't like paying more than $80/night, but I figured $100/night would be worth the convenience of being on-site and not having to try to find a parking spot every day. But, I might re-think that for next year since the room I had wasn't great.